I recently had the opportunity to have lunch and good conversation with two individuals living with Fibromyalgia (among other conditions), but Fibro was their common thread. What struck me though, was how different their experiences were not only with Fibro itself, but even more so, how different their experiences with healthcare, and specifically healthcare professionals, were.

Johnnie Tuitel is an advocate and motivation speaker with cerebral palsy who was traveling to a give a speech in Kansas City to the National Self Advocacy Conference about people with disabilities. Johnnie’s wheelchair had been tagged, taken to be loaded as baggage, and he was already seated when a U.S. Airways gate agent returned with a narrow aisle chair to take Johnnie off the plane. Johnnie said people were pointing and staring at him. He was embarrassed and “humiliated” when U.S. Airways removed him from the flight because he was “too disabled to fly.”